Over the last several decades, many anti-virus (anti-worm, anti-Trojan horse) technologies have been developed and brought to market. Most of these technologies are traditional in that new virus, worm, or Trojan horse signatures need to be manually identified and appended to a list. The resultant consumer software then also needs to be updated with these new signatures on a regular basis in order to protect the consumer's computer from the newest computer pathogens.
A more recent development in antiviral technology has been the idea of an Artificial Immune System (AIS). Artificial Immune Systems have the potential to provide adaptive solutions to the ever-increasingly severe problem of large-scale computer attacks. The central idea behind anti-virus AIS is the establishment of a defined ‘normal’ behavior of a computer's processes. This ‘normal’ behavior is considered the ‘self’ in the biological metaphor, whereas a deviation from this normal behavior is considered ‘non-self’ and potentially harmful to the system. Regardless of the new viruses that may be developed and targeted at a computer running an AIS, the AIS should be able to detect the abnormal functioning of its processes and signal an alert. Compared to a traditional signature-logging anti-virus technology, AISs provide an adaptive solution to the computer virus problem. By making the technology adaptive, AISs are simpler and more elegant than the traditional anti-virus solutions.
Whatever the application of the specific AIS, a recurring problem is the tradeoff between speed and thoroughness. If speed is crucial, the algorithm may often be designed to be less thorough, which may then lead to a decreased detection rate and/or an increase in false positives. If thoroughness is the priority, then the algorithm that is designed may result in running more slowly, which in turn may be so slowly that the detection of a malign intrusion or other unauthorized activity may be too late to prevent the behavior. Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.